- Chapter 9 - "But Sleeeeeeep!" -
Warnings: Mentions of School, Snyder
Third Person POV
The boys all laid on the grass under the stars.
"I don't want this to end." Mike breaks the comfortable silence that had fallen upon the group.
"I never do either." Jack agrees, sighing softly.
"And we have school tomorrow." Romeo mutters, frowning.
"I hate school." Ike mumbles.
"I agree." Boots and Mush respond.
"Oh!" Elmer shoots up, now sitting up in the grass.
The boys look at him, some sitting up as well and others just staying laying down.
"I know what hasn't happened today that usually does!" He exclaims.
JoJo turns over, onto his stomach. "Go on then!" He exclaims, excited.
"Star facts!" Elmer exclaims, grinning.
A good amount of the boys look at Race.
"Oh..." realization dawns on Race. "My star facts?" He asks softly.
"Who else's?" Mush asks with a small chuckle.
Race shrugs, turning over and looking at the stars. "I don't know. I just never really realized you like my rambles about stars that I seem to get lost in." He tells them.
"We love them!" Buttons pipes up.
"Yeah!" Crutchie exclaims.
Albert and Spot share small smiles.
I love this group, Spot thinks to himself, lacing Albert's hand in his.
I'm so glad I found this group, Albert thinks with a soft smile.
"Knock yourself out, Race." Finch tells him, pulling Tommy boy's head into his lap.
Tommy boy smiles softly.
"But don't actually." Henry cuts in with a chuckle. "We don't want you getting hurt and I doubt Miss Hannah would want it." He tells him.
The boys laugh.
Finch chuckles, playing with Tommy boy's hair.
Romeo leans over to him. "You're going to make him fall asleep." He whispers, gesturing to Tommy boy.
Finch chuckles. "He can stay at my house tonight." He tells Romeo softly. "My house is only a few houses down and I can text his mom."
Romeo nods.
Race stays silent for a minute, trying to think of star facts. "How many do we want?" He asks.
"One!" JoJo pipes up.
"Two!" Elmer chirps, grinning.
"Three please." Tommy boy adds softly, his head still resting in Finch's lap.
He sounded like he was about to fall asleep, and he was.
Race nods.
"Fact one; there is actually no dark side of the moon." Race informs them.
Specs and Davey share a small smile, knowing this.
Some of the other boys, including Jack, Spot, and Albert, looked confused.
"Both sides of the moon sees the same amount of sunlight," Race explains. "However, because the moon is tidally locked with the Earth, we only see one side of it. That's because the moon rotates on its axis in the same amount of time it takes to rotate around the Earth, so the side we see from the Earth is reflected from the sunlight, making the other side look dark."
(A/N, That made no sense lol. Sorry.)
"Wow." Race heard awes from some of his brothers, causing him to chuckle softly.
Boots sits down next to Ike.
The older Guzman twin was watching his younger twin with his boyfriend (JoJo) and silently missing his boyfriend.
"I-" Boots didn't say this often, but he needed to. "I miss my boyfriend and I need a hug." He says softly. "I was wondering if, because you miss your boyfriend too, you'd hug me for a few." He whispers.
Ike smiles at him, opening his arms. "Sure." He tells him softly.
Boots smiles, hugging the slightly older boy.
For someone who didn't like touch very much, the hug was nice and Ike didn't try to play with his hair because he knew Boots hated it.
Boots appreciated that.
"Fact two;" Race starts softly. He just stared up at the sky. "Our sun is a "Green star," or more like a
green-blue star." He informs them.
"The star likes Race's colors." Buttons mumbles groggily.
Some of the boys chuckle.
"It's actual color borders blue and green." Race explains. "It just looks yellow or white to us when we look at it from Earth because it is influenced by its surroundings." He continues.
"That's interesting." Specs comments softly. "I'd have never guessed it was anything other than yellow." He states.
Some boys nod in agreement.
"Same here." Race responds.
Race stops for a moment to think of a third fact that he hadn't told the boys.
Not that he didn't have anymore, he definitely had a ton more, but he had told his brothers so many that he probably should've kept a list to keep track.
"There are actually earthquakes on the moon." Race chuckles a bit to himself. "But they call them moonquakes."
"They happen because of the gravitational pull of Earth, which causes every problem so we should just blame it for everything," he laughs softly with some of the boys.
"How dare you make Snyder my teacher, stupid gravitational pull!" Jack exclaims jokingly.
The boys laugh more.
"Anyway," Race gets back on track. "The gravitational pull of Earth causes small moonquakes a few several kilometers under the moon's surface, which is what causes the ruptures and cracks on the moon." He explains.
A bit later
"You sure you don't want to stay, Race?" Jack asks him softly. "We'd be happy to have you, all of you." He adds for Spot and Albert.
Race shakes his head. "I have to go home to see Miss Hannah." He tells the older boy. "I'll be back tomorrow morning before school."
Jack nods, sighing softly.
They say their goodbyes, and start leaving.
"Take care of him while you walk back." Jack tells Albert and Spot. "I don't want him hurt, none of us do." He states.
Albert and Spot nod.
"We don't want him hurt either." Albert responds. "We'll take care of him and watch over him to make sure he gets home safely." He assures Jack.
Jack nods, leaning against the door. "Thanks, guys." He smiles at them. "Have a good night."
Albert and Spot smile, leaving the house.
The three boys start walking, the first bit of the walk being in silence.
"You guys seem like such an amazing group." Albert speaks up.
Race looks at him, slowly down slightly so he was walking with Spot and Albert. "What do you mean?" He asks curiously.
"You guys seem like family." Albert answers. "And you're all so nice, and funny, and unique." He explains.
Race smiles as he looks ahead. "I love those crazy people." He responds. "But I think you failed to mention that you two have joined our group."
Albert and Spot look up at him. "What?" They ask in unison.
Race looks between the two boys. "Come on, guys." He laughs softly. "You can't tell me that you don't feel like a part of the group. Why would we invite you guys to hang with us if you weren't?" He asks.
Albert and Spot shrug.
The three boys were silent for a few minutes.
"Hey, Race?" Albert starts softly, looking ahead.
Race hums, his mind more focused on the fact that he was tired and his backpack, being heavy, wasn't helping than responding.
"Could we walk with you all to school tomorrow?" Albert asks quietly.
Race turns to face him, grinning. "Of course!" He exclaims. "It's a lot of fun, though it's a bit of a walk."
Albert and Spot smile.
"Just meet me outside by 6:15 at the latest." Race tells them. "We need to be at school by 7:30."
Albert groans. "That's so early." He complains.
Race laughs. "That's how we all feel, Al." He responds.
"Uh..." Spot starts softly. "Race?"
Race stops.
He looks at the house. "Oh. Right. This is my house." He facepalms.
Albert and Spot chuckle.
"I'll see you two in the morning." Race tells them, smiling. "But I'm tired and need sleep." He tries to hold back a yawn.
Albert and Spot nod.
They exchange 'good night's and waves, before they watch Race walk inside his house.
Spot looks at Albert, smirking.
Albert blushes. "We've fallen harder for him than we thought." He mutters.
Spot chuckles.
1382 Words
I recently made a friend on class because she said she liked Newsies and two other friends who like musicals and we all exchanged phone numbers :)